The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

Last 5 news

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) –
Yesterday at 10 a.m. local time (6 p.m. in Rome) the Holy Father
began the last leg of his apostolic trip in Mexico: Ciudad Juarez,
for two centuries the only land passage to the United States. Indeed,
Cuidad Juarez is situated on the Rio Grande, facing the Texan city of
El Paso. The two form a metropolitan area with two million
inhabitants. It is a very developed industrial centre and, according
to various statistics, one of the most violent cities in the world,
due principally to drug trafficking across the border with the United
States. It also has around 950 armed gangs with tens of thousands of
members, and is home to hundreds of Mexican gang members deported
from the United States. During the last four years of the drugs war,
212,000 inhabitants – or around 18 per cent of the population –
abandoned the city. Ciudad Juarez is sadly renowned for the
disappearance of thousands of women, typically from poor families,
who worked in the maquiladoras (clandestine factories). The theme of
the abduction and murder of these women has featured in literature
and cinema, and various associations have been established to defend
women, including "Nuestras hijas de regreso a casa" ("Bring
our daughters back home").

The Holy Father began his day in Ciudad
Juarez with a visit to the CeReSo 3 penitentiary, which formed part
of a project for the requalification of the penal institutions of the
State of Chihuahua, and has been awarded for its observance of
international norms in the field. It houses three thousand detainees
including a limited number of women. Upon arrival Francis greeted the
families of some of the inmates, and proceeded to the chapel where he
was awaited by staff and the priests of the penitentiary's pastoral
service, to whom he addressed some words of thanks for their work.
"You encounter much fragility. Therefore I would like to offer
you this fragile image", he said, referring to the crystal
crucifix he gave to the Centre to commemorate his visit. "Crystal
is fragile, it breaks easily. Christ on the Cross represents the
greatest fragility of humanity; however it is this fragility that
saves us, that helps us, that enables us to keep going and opens the
doors of hope. It is my wish that each one of you, with the blessing
of the Virgin and contemplating the fragility of Christ Who died to
save us, sowing seeds of hope and resurrection".

He was awaited in the Centre's main
courtyard by seven hundred detainees, of whom he greeted around fifty
in person. One of them gave a testimony in which he affirmed that the
presence of the Holy Father was a call to mercy especially for those
who had lost hope in their rehabilitation and for those who had
forgotten that there are human beings in prison. Francis then
addressed those present, remarking first that he could not have left
"without greeting you and celebrating with you the Jubilee of
Mercy", adding that mercy "embraces everyone and is found
in every corner of the world. There is no place beyond the reach of
his mercy, no space or person it cannot touch".

"Celebrating the Jubilee of Mercy
with you is recalling the pressing journey that we must undertake in
order to break the cycle of violence and crime. We have already lost
many decades thinking and believing that everything will be resolved
by isolating, separating, incarcerating, and ridding ourselves of
problems, believing that these policies really solve problems. We
have forgotten to focus on what must truly be our concern: people’s
lives; their lives, those of their families, and those who have
suffered because of this cycle of violence".

"Divine Mercy reminds us that
prisons are an indication of the kind of society we are. In many
cases they are a sign of the silence and omissions which have led to
a throwaway culture, a symptom of a culture that has stopped
supporting life, of a society that has abandoned its children. Mercy
reminds us that reintegration does not begin here within these walls;
rather it begins before, it begins 'outside', in the streets of the
city. Reintegration or rehabilitation begins by creating a system
which we could call social health, that is, a society which seeks not
to cause sickness, polluting relationships in neighbourhoods,
schools, town squares, the streets, homes and in the whole of the
social spectrum. A system of social health that endeavours to promote
a culture which acts and seeks to prevent those situations and
pathways that end in damaging and impairing the social fabric".

"At times it may seem that prisons
are intended more to prevent people from committing crimes than to
promote the process of rehabilitation that allows us to address the
social, psychological and family problems which lead a person to act
in a certain way", he observed. "The problem of security is
not resolved only by incarcerating; rather, it calls us to intervene
by confronting the structural and cultural causes of insecurity that
impact the entire social framework. Jesus’ concern for the care of
the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless and prisoners sought to express
the core of the Father’s mercy. This becomes a moral imperative for
the whole of society that wishes to maintain the necessary conditions
for a better common life. It is within a society’s capacity to
include the poor, infirm and imprisoned, that we see its ability to
heal their wounds and make them builders of a peaceful coexistence.
Social reintegration begins by making sure that all of our children
go to school and that their families obtain dignified work by
creating public spaces for leisure and recreation, and by fostering
civic participation, health services and access to basic services, to
name just a few possible measures. The whole rehabilitation process
starts here".

"Celebrating the Jubilee of Mercy
with you means learning not to be prisoners of the past, of
yesterday. It means learning to open the door to the future, to
tomorrow; it means believing that things can change. Celebrating the
Jubilee of Mercy with you means inviting you to lift up your heads
and to work in order to gain this space of longed-for freedom.
Celebrating the Jubilee of Mercy with you means repeating this phrase
that we heard a little while ago, so well expressed and with such
force: 'When they gave me my sentence ,someone said to me: do not ask
the reason why you are here, but the purpose. And this 'purpose'
keeps us going ahead; it enables us to overcome the barrier of the
social deception that would have us believe that security and order
are obtained only through imprisonment".

"We know that we cannot turn back,
we know that what is done, is done. This is the way I wanted to
celebrate with you the Jubilee of Mercy, because it does not exclude
the possibility of writing a new story and moving forward. You suffer
the pain of a failure, you feel the remorse of your actions and in
many cases, with great limitations, you seek to remake your lives in
the midst of solitude. You have known the power of sorrow and sin,
and have not forgotten that within your reach is the power of the
resurrection, the power of divine mercy which makes all things new.
Now, this mercy can reach you in the hardest and most difficult of
places, but such occasions can also perhaps bring truly positive
results. From inside this prison, you must work hard to change the
situations which create the most exclusion. Speak with your loved
ones, tell them of your experiences, help them to put an end to this
cycle of violence and exclusion. The one who has suffered the
greatest pain, and we could say 'has experienced hell', can become a
prophet in society. Work so that this society which uses people and
discards them will not go on claiming victims".

"As I say these things, I recall
Jesus' words: 'Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to
throw a stone'. I should leave now … in saying these things to you,
I do not do so as if I were in the pulpit, wagging my finger; I do so
on the basis of the experience of my own wounds, errors and sins that
the Lord has wished to forgive and re-educate. I do so on the basis
of the knowledge that, without His grace and my vigilance, I could
easily repeat them. Brothers, I always ask myself, as I enter a
prison, 'Why them and not me?'. And it is a mystery of divine mercy.
But we all celebrating this divine mercy today, looking ahead with
hope".

Finally, the Pope addressed all the
staff and those who undertake any type of work that brings them into
contact with inmates, urging them to remember their potential to be
"signs of the heart of the Father", and adding, "We
need one another; as our sister said to us, recalling the Letter to
the Hebrews: let us feel we are imprisoned alongside them".

Before giving his blessing, he invited
those present to pray a moment in silence: "Each one knows what
he wants to say to the Lord; each person knows what he wants to be
forgiven for. But I ask you, in this silent prayer, let us open our
hearts to be able to forgive the society that has not been able to
help us and that has often led us to err. From the depths of our
hearts, may each one of us ask God to help us believe in his mercy".

Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) –
"I wanted to meet with you here in this land of Juarez, because
of the special relationship this city has with the world of labour. I
am grateful not only for your words of welcome and for your
testimonies, which reveal the anxieties, joys and hopes of your
lives, but also for this opportunity to share and reflect together.
Anything we can do to foster dialogue, encounter, and the search for
better alternatives and opportunities is already an accomplishment to
be valued and highlighted. And there are two words that I want to
underline: dialogue and encounter. Never tire of pursuing dialogue.
Wars gradually come about due to a lack of talking and encounter".
The Holy Father addressed these words to representatives of the world
of work, businesspeople and workers, whom he encountered at the
Colegio de Bachilleres of the State of Chihuahua in Ciudad Juarez at
midday yesterday (8 p.m. in Rome).

"Obviously more needs to be done
than dialogue and encounter, but today we do not have the luxury of
missing any chance to encounter, any chance to discuss, confront or
explore. This is the only way we will be able to build for tomorrow,
to create sustainable relationships capable of providing the needed
framework that, little by little, will rebuild the social bonds so
damaged by a lack of communication and by a lack of the minimal
respect necessary for a healthy coexistence. So I thank you, and I
hope that this occasion may serve to build the future. May it be a
good opportunity to forge the Mexico that its people and children
deserve".

"I would like to dwell on this
latter point. Here today there are various workers’ organisations
and representatives of Commerce Chambers and business associations.
At first sight they could be considered as adversaries, but they are
united by the same responsibility: seeking to create employment
opportunities which are dignified and truly beneficial for society
and especially for the young of this land. One of the greatest
scourges for young people is the lack of opportunities for study and
for sustainable and profitable work, which would permit them to work
for the future. In many cases – many cases – this lack of
opportunity leads to situations of poverty and rejection. This
poverty and rejection then becomes the best breeding ground for the
young to fall into the cycle of drug trafficking and violence. It is
a luxury which today we cannot afford; we cannot allow the present
and future of Mexico to be isolated and abandoned. And for this to
happen, dialogue, speaking face to face, and work opportunities are
needed to help forge a constructive path ahead".

"Unfortunately, the times we live
in have imposed the paradigm of economic utility as the starting
point for personal relationships. The prevailing mentality,
everywhere, advocates for the greatest possible profits, immediately
and at any cost. This not only causes the ethical dimension of
business to be lost, but it also forgets that the best investment we
can make is in people, in individual persons and in families. The
best investment is creating opportunities. The prevailing mentality
puts the flow of people at the service of the flow of capital,
resulting in many cases in the exploitation of employees as if they
were objects to be used, discarded and thrown out. God will hold us
accountable for the slavery of our day, and we must do everything to
make sure that these situations do not happen again. The flow of
capital cannot decide the flow and life of people. For this reason I
liked that aspiration which was expressed through dialogue, talking
face to face".

Francis observed that, when faced with
tenets of the Social Doctrine of the Church, it is frequently
objected that "'these teachings would have us be charitable
organisations or transform our businesses into philanthropic
institutions'. We have heard this criticism. The only aspiration of
the Church’s Social Doctrine is to guard over the integrity of
people and social structures. Every time that, for whatever reason,
this integrity is threatened or reduced to a consumer good, the
Church’s Social Doctrine will be a prophetic voice to protect us
all from being lost in the seductive sea of ambition. Every time that
a person’s integrity is violated, society, in a certain sense,
begins to decline. And this Social Doctrine of the Church is against
no one, but in favour of all. Every sector has the obligation of
looking out for the good of all; we are all in the same boat. We all
have to struggle to make sure that work is a humanizing moment which
looks to the future; that it is a space for building up society and
each person’s participation in it. This attitude not only provides
an immediate improvement, but in the long run it will also transform
society into a culture capable of promoting a dignified space for
everyone. This culture, born many times out of tension, is creating a
new style of relationships, a new kind of nation".

"What kind of world do we want to
leave our children?", the Holy Father asked. "I believe
that the vast majority of us can agree. This is precisely our
horizon, our goal, and we have to come together and work for this. It
is always good to think about what I would like to leave my children;
it is also a good way to think of others’ children. What kind of
Mexico do you want to leave your children? Do you want to leave them
the memory of exploitation, of insufficient pay, of workplace
harassment, of trafficking in slave labour? Or do you want to leave
them a culture which recalls dignified labour, proper lodging, and
land to be worked? The three 'L’s': Labour, Lodging, Land. What
type of culture do we want for those who will come after us? What air
will they breathe? An air tainted by corruption, violence, insecurity
and suspicion, or, on the contrary, an air capable of generating –
and the word is crucial – generating alternatives, renewal and
change? To generate is to be co-creators with God. This, naturally,
involves much effort".

"I know that the issues raised are
not easy, but it is worse to leave the future in the hands of
corruption, brutality and the lack of equity. I know it is often not
easy to bring all parties together in negotiations, but it is worse,
and we end up doing more harm, when there is a lack of negotiations
and appreciation. An old manager of labourers, a very honest man, who
left this world having earned every penny due to him and who never
took advantage of others, once said to me: 'Each time we had to sit
down at the negotiating table, I knew that I had to lose something in
order to make us all win something'. This is a good philosophy coming
from the world of labour. I know it is not easy to get along in an
increasingly competitive world, but it is worse to allow the
competitive world to ruin the destiny of the people. Slaves. Profit
and capital are not a good over and above the human person; they are
at the service of the common good. When the common good is used only
at the service of profit and capital, this has a name: it is called
exclusion, and through it the throwaway culture gets stronger and
stronger. Throwaway and exclusion".

Recalling the testimony of one of the
young people in the Morelia Stadium, who had remarked that "this
world robs us of the capacity to dream", Francis urged
"dialogue, speaking face to face, negotiating, and losing out at
times so that all can win. I invite you to dream of a Mexico that
your children deserve; a Mexico where no one is first, second, or
fourth; a Mexico where each sees in the other the dignity of a child
of God. May our Lady of Guadalupe, who made herself known to St. Juan
Diego, and revealed how the seemingly abandoned were her privileged
witnesses, help you all, whatever your profession, whatever your
work, to take up this task of dialogue, face to face discussion, and
encounter".

Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) -
"In this Year of Mercy, with you here, I beg for God’s mercy;
with you I wish to plead for the gift of tears, the gift of
conversion", exclaimed the Pope yesterday during the Mass
celebrated in the fair ground of Ciudad Juarez, on the frontier
between Mexico and the United States. The Holy Father toured the area
several times in the popemobile to greet the faithful gathered on
both sides of the border.

Awareness of violence, injustice and
oppression, the need for conversion and mercy, the "human
tragedy" of forced migration to which this metropolis bears
witness, the scars of the illegal drugs trade and human trafficking,
and at the same time the possibility of changing this situation, were
the main points of the Holy Father's homily. He began with St.
Irenaeus' celebrated assertion that "the glory of God is the
life of man", an expression that continues to echo in the heart
of the Church.

"The glory of the Father is the
life of his sons and daughters. There is no greater glory for a
father than to see his children blossom, no greater satisfaction than
to see his children grow up, developing and flourishing. The first
reading that we have just heard points to this. The great city of
Nineveh, was self-destructing as a result of oppression and
dishonour, violence and injustice. The grand capital’s days were
numbered because the violence within it could not continue. Then the
Lord appeared and stirred Jonah’s heart: the Father called and sent
forth His messenger. Jonah was summoned to receive a mission. 'Go',
he is told, because in 'forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown'. Go
and help them to understand that by the way they treat each other,
ordering and organising themselves, they are only creating death and
destruction, suffering and oppression. Make them see this is no way
to live, neither for the king nor his subjects, nor for farm fields
nor for the cattle. Go and tell them that they have become used to
this degrading way of life and have lost their sensitivity to pain.
Go and tell them that injustice has infected their way of seeing the
world. 'Therefore, go Jonah!'. God sent him to testify to what was
happening, He sent him to wake up a people intoxicated with
themselves".

"In this text we find ourselves
before the mystery of divine mercy. Mercy, which always rejects
wickedness, takes the human person in great earnest. Mercy always
appeals to the goodness of each person, even though it may be dormant
and numbed. Far from bringing destruction, as we so often desire or
want to bring about ourselves, mercy seeks to transform each
situation from within. Herein lies the mystery of divine mercy. It
seeks and invites us to conversion, it invites us to repentance; it
invites us to see the damage being done at every level. Mercy always
pierces evil in order to transform it. It is the mystery of God our
Father: He sends his Son who pierced into what was evil, He made
himself sin in order to transform evil. This is his mercy".

"The king listened to Jonah, the
inhabitants of the city responded and penance was decreed. God’s
mercy has entered the heart, revealing and showing wherein our
certainty and hope lie: there is always the possibility of change, we
still have time to transform what is destroying us as a people, what
is demeaning our humanity. Mercy encourages us to look to the
present, and to trust what is healthy and good beating in every
heart. God’s mercy is our shield and our strength".

Jonah helped them to see and to become
aware. "Following this, his call found men and women capable of
repenting, and capable of weeping. To weep over injustice, to cry
over corruption, to cry over oppression. These are tears that lead to
transformation, that soften the heart; they are the tears that purify
our gaze and enable us to see the cycle of sin into which very often
we have sunk. They are tears that can sensitise our gaze and our
attitude, which are hardened and dormant in the face of another’s
suffering. They are the tears that can break us, capable of opening
us to conversion. This is what happened to Peter after having denied
Jesus; he cried and those tears opened his heart".

"This word echoes forcefully today
among us; this word is the voice crying out in the wilderness,
inviting us to conversion. In this Year of Mercy, with you here, I
beg for God’s mercy; with you I wish to plead for the gift of
tears, the gift of conversion. Here in Ciudad Juárez, as in other
border areas, there are thousands of immigrants from Central America
and other countries, not forgetting the many Mexicans who also seek
to pass over 'to the other side'. Each step, a journey laden with
grave injustices: the enslaved, the imprisoned and extorted; so many
of these brothers and sisters of ours are the consequence of a trade
in human trafficking, the trafficking of persons".

"We cannot deny the humanitarian
crisis which in recent years has meant migration for thousands of
people, whether by train or highway or on foot, crossing hundreds of
kilometres through mountains, deserts and inhospitable zones. The
human tragedy that is forced migration is a global phenomenon today.
This crisis which can be measured in numbers and statistics, we want
instead to measure with names, stories, families. They are the
brothers and sisters of those expelled by poverty and violence, by
drug trafficking and criminal organizations. Being faced with so many
legal vacuums, they get caught up in a web that ensnares and always
destroys the poorest. Not only do they suffer poverty but they must
also endure all these forms of violence. Injustice is radicalised in
the young; they are “cannon fodder”, persecuted and threatened
when they try to flee the spiral of violence and the hell of drugs.
And what can we say about the many women whose lives have been
unjustly robbed?"

"Let us together ask our God for
the gift of conversion, the gift of tears, let us ask him to give us
open hearts like the Ninevites, open to His call heard in the
suffering faces of countless men and women. No more death! No more
exploitation! There is always time to change, always a way out and
always an opportunity, there is always the time to implore the mercy
of God. Just as in Jonas’ time, so too today may we commit
ourselves to conversion; may we be signs lighting the way and
announcing salvation. I know of the work of countless civil
organisations working to support the rights of migrants. I know too
of the committed work of so many men and women religious, priests and
lay people in accompanying migrants and in defending life. They are
on the front lines, often risking their own lives. By their very
lives they are prophets of mercy; they are the beating heart and the
accompanying feet of the Church that opens her arms and sustains".

"This time for conversion, this
time for salvation, is the time for mercy. And so, let us say
together in response to the suffering on so many faces: in your
compassion and mercy, Lord, have pity on us … cleanse us from our
sins and create in us a pure heart, a new spirit".

"And now I also want to greet from
here all our beloved brothers and sisters who are joining us
simultaneously from the other side of the frontier, especially those
who are gathered in the Stadium of the University of El Paso, known
as The Sun Bowl. … Thanks to technology, we can pray, sing and
celebrate together that merciful love which God gives us, and which
no frontier can prevent us from sharing. Thank you, brothers and
sisters of El Paso, for making us feel one single family and one same
Christian community".

Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) –
Pope Francis took leave of Mexico today, thanking God for granting
him his visit to a country "that always surprises, for Mexico is
a surprise!". He departed from the airport of Ciudad Juarez at 7
p.m. local time (3 a.m. in Rome) today, 18 February, and is expected
to arrive in Rome at 3.15 p.m.

The Holy Father again gave thanks to
all those who made his pilgrimage possible, including the state and
local authorities and "all those anonymous helpers who quietly
gave of their very best to make these days a great family
celebration".

"I have felt welcomed and warmly
received by the love, the celebration, the hope of this great Mexican
family: thank you for having opened the doors of your lives to me,
the doors of your nation", he added, then reciting the words of
Octavio Paz in his poem "Hermandad":

“I am a man: I only last a brief
while, and the night is vast.

But I look up: the stars are writing.

Without grasping I understand: I am
also the writing

and in this very instant someone is
spelling me out”.

"Taking up these beautiful words,
I dare to suggest that the one who spells us out and marks out the
road for us is the mysterious but real presence of God in the real
flesh of all people, especially the poorest and most needy of
Mexico", the Pontiff commented. "The night can seem vast
and very dark, but in these days I have been able to observe that in
this people there are many lights who proclaim hope; I have been able
to see in many of their testimonies, in their faces, the presence of
God who carries on walking in this land, guiding you, sustaining
hope; many men and women, with their everyday efforts, make it
possible for this Mexican society not to be left in darkness. Many
men and women lining the streets as I went by, lifted up their
children, showing them to me: they are the future of Mexico, let us
look after them, let us love them. These children are tomorrow’s
prophets, they are the sign of a new dawn. And I assure you that on
some occasions, as I passed by, I felt I wanted to cry on seeing so
much hope among people who suffer so much".

"May Mary, Mother of Guadalupe,
continue to visit you, continue to walk on your lands – Mexico
which cannot be understood without her – may she continue helping
you to be missionaries and witnesses of mercy and reconciliation",
he concluded. "Once again, thank you very much for this warm, so
very warm, Mexican hospitality".

Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) –
The Holy Father has appointed Fr. Felice Accrocca of the clergy of
Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno, Italy, as metropolitan archbishop of
Benevento (area 1,691, population 273,700, Catholics 271,700, priests
207, permanent deacons 53, religious 315), Italy. The bishop-elect
was born in Cori, Italy in 1959 and was ordained a priest in 1986. He
holds a degree in letters from the "La Sapienza" University
of Rome and a doctorate in ecclesiastical history from the Pontifical
Gregorian University. He has served in a number of pastoral and
administrative roles, including deputy priest, parish priest,
moderator of the curia, diocesan assistant for Catholic Action, and
secretary of the diocesan synod. He is currently director of the
"Paolo VI" diocesan school of theology, episcopal vicar for
diocesan pastoral ministry, parish priest and parish administrator.
He is also lecturer in medieval Church history at the Pontifical
Gregorian University. He succeeds Archbishop Andrea Mugione, whose
resignation from the pastoral care of the same metropolitan
archdiocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy
Father.